One Green River High School student is on track to receive one of the most prestigious scholarships available to seniors.
Victoria Allen was recently named a finalist for the National Merit Scholarship.
While speaking to the Sweetwater County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees last week, GRHS Principal Darren Howard spoke briefly about Allen and her nomination.
Howard said he and Vice Principal Joe Hamel met with Allen two weeks ago to speak with her about the added school stresses she struggled with. Howard said many seniors struggle with the added pressures of scholarships and college applications on top of their usual work load with classes and activities. On top of school work, Allen competes with the high school’s speech and debate team and qualified for nationals over the weekend.
“I think she was looking for inspiration from Joe and I and we sat down and talked for about 30 minutes,” Howard said. “And when she left, I think she inspired Joe and I more than we ever inspired her.”
According to Howard, Allen has a high possibility of receiving the highest merit scholarship offered. Allen will be informed of what scholarship she will receive in May. Howard said the scholarship will factor in her academic record, accolades and involvement in school.
According to Howard, 1.6 million high school juniors took the PSAT in an attempt to apply for the National Merit Scholarship. The PSAT functions as a qualifying test for the scholarship. Allen said her score was high enough to mark her in the 100th percentile amongst students in Wyoming and placed her in the 99th percentile of students nation wide.
“It’s no easy process,” Howard told the board. “The application process is intense, highly competitive and highly sought after.”
According to Allen, after the PSAT test is scored, a letter is sent out to qualified students during the next school year. She had to work with her guidance counselor to complete additional documents needed for the scholarship. After that, she had to take the standard SAT test before Dec. 31. Because most schools in the state take the ACT for college admissions, Allen had to travel to Cheyenne to take the SAT.
“Then the waiting game starts,” Allen said.
She missed only 11 questions on the SAT, but did not receive a letter informing her that she had made the cut. Allen said she was feeling discouraged until meeting with Howard and learning from him she had been named a finalist.
Allen said she’s always had a sharp memory and remembers her parents always working to teach her new things. She said her parents can’t remember when she started reading, but have videos of her reciting books as they read to her. She also said her parents encouraged her to learn to spell increasingly difficult words early on. Her spelling ability would later serve her well in spelling competitions during her middle school years, where she won the Wyoming State Spelling Bee during her seventh and eighth-grade years.
During most of her elementary school years, Allen was a student at the International School of Brussels in Belgium, Her father, an employee at Solvay, had moved the family from Green River when she was about four years old to work for the company in its home country. She described the school as being “very academically inclined” and had been placed on a higher-achieving educational track. Allen said her parents and teachers recognized her potential and helped instill a mindset to learn more in school. Her family returned to Green River prior to the start of her sixth-grade year.
Allen said while she does strive to excel in her classes, she does have trouble with a couple of subjects. Allen said she has difficulties in subjects related to U.S. geography and social studies because she lived in Belgium at the time students usually learn geography in the U.S. She said she also struggled in her P.E. classes, saying she dressed out and usually gave her full effort in class.
In her free time, Allen said she enjoys reading and conducting personal experiments, such as the time she started a hydroponic garden simply to see if she could do it.
Allen said she had a successful garden, growing flowers, peas and lettuce, but a mishap involving one of the lights falling into a bucket resulted in losing almost everything in the garden. She said she looks forward to giving the garden a second try.
Allen plans to attend the University of Wyoming next year and has received the trustees scholarship and is a Hathaway recipient. She plans to become a pharmacist, saying they make a lot of money and there will always be a need for pharmacists. She’s also looking forward to the coursework because “chemistry is super cool.”
Allen said she’s been nudged to greater academic success by her parents especially. She also credits her younger brother Will for nudging her along as well. She doesn’t believe she would be as successful
“I owe it to my pops, my moms, and my bro-bro,” she said. “My family is probably the most intelligent people I know.”
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